Head of Parents Services

International Schools Partnership; Ipoh; On-site; USD 50,000 - 75,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading international education provider seeks a Head of Parent Services in Ipoh, Malaysia. This senior role focuses on enhancing customer experience, driving student retention, and leading customer-facing staff. The ideal candidate will leverage their experience in customer service and engagement within the educational sector to improve the overall family interaction journey.

Qualifications

• Proven experience in driving student retention and enrolment.
• Ability to lead and motivate teams towards customer service excellence.
• Skilled in communication and relationship building with parents.

Responsibilities

• Oversee customer service and engagement for parents.
• Implement retention processes and oversee their execution.
• Manage Parent Services team for service delivery.

Skills

Customer experience

Family engagement

Performance-driven

Data analysis

Education

Experience in the commercial education sector

Job description

Description

Purpose of Role

The Head of Parent Services takes ownership and responsibility for existing and prospective parent customer service and engagement. The postholder will oversee the operations, training, management and efficiencies of the customer-facing, Marketing & Admissions teams including the Reception and welcome areas of the school. This role also ensures that student retention remains a priority with a clear understanding of the customer journey from the time they enrol to the time they leave the school. The post holder will provide challenge and guidance across the school to ensure that the whole organisation is relentlessly customer-focussed. The Head of Parent Services is responsible for leading and driving school retention (including the customer journey) process which links to the group re-enrolment processes in Malaysia.

This is a senior role, reporting to the Campus Principal, responsible for driving student retention and reducing leavers to meet ambitious targets. The role will support to meet the retention and re-enrolment targets and deliver and improved customer journey experience for our families. This role works in close partnership with Regional Head of Retention & Re-enrolment, School Head of Admissions, Marketing, and school teams. This is a role for someone who is a natural leader, performance-driven, and comfortable with using data strategically.

Our ideal candidate is a professional with demonstrable experience in customer experiences, family engagement, student recruitment, enrolment, and retention (ideally in the commercial education sector).

ISP Principles

Begin with our children and students. Our children and students are at the heart of what we do. Simply, their success is our success. Wellbeing and safety are both essential for learners and learning. Therefore, we are consistent in identifying potential safeguarding issues and acting and following up on all concerns appropriately.

Treat everyone with care and respect. We look after one another, embrace similarities and differences and promote the well-being of self and others.

Operate effectively. We focus relentlessly on the things that are most important and will make the most difference. We apply school policies and procedures and embody the shared ideas of our community.

Learn continuously. Getting better is what drives us. We positively engage with personal and professional development and school improvement.

ISP Malaysia

Asia Pacific Schools, Tenby Schools and Straits Schools are a group of International and Malaysian private schools in Malaysia (wholly owned by ISP), offering both IGCSE & A-Levels and the Malaysian Sekolah curriculum. ISP Malaysia has a 60-year history in the country providing education to students from 3 to 18 years of age. It has gained a reputation for excellence and high standards in education.

ISP schools Malaysia follows both the international school curriculum comprising K12, IGCSE and A-levels (9 schools), starting at kindergarten level, while there are five schools that follow the Malaysian National Curriculum. While the national and international schools and classrooms are separated, facilities and non-curricular activities are shared between the schools. Students at ISP Malaysia schools enjoy high-levels of learning opportunity and achieve excellent results in UPSR, SPM and iGCSE and A-Level.

Key Responsibilities

Main Responsibilities

Key Responsibility 1: Ensure a high level of support, communication and customer experience within the communities:

• Must be the most identified, front facing staff of the school who parents and families can relate to and approach for any concerns, enquiries or updates.
• Key driver next to school Principal, of the customer service mindset/ culture across teams and departments
• Ensures that all current parents’ concerns and / or issues are addressed immediately or escalated to the SLT and/or Principal. Also in charge of communicating follow up and updates to parents on the progress of their lodged concerns
• Establish strong working relationships with regional team members, school Senior Leadership Teams and school retention and re-enrolment colleagues.
• Ensure that all senior leadership teams can identify and understand FAQs from current parents, update and summarise the most frequent objections from current parents with corresponding best responses, and clearly articulate school story and promises.
• Support and explore school customer experience programme and audit school processes after the admissions process is complete and deliver concierge level customer service to current families across all the main touchpoints including school front of house, tours, events, internal communications and more.
• Work with relevant school team to develop both an attitude and practices that ensure every staff members is taking an equal responsibilities in telling the story of the school and not just the members of the marketing and admissions team.
• Deliver an ISP customer service and customer experience standards at all times.
• Recommend and implement improvements based on data insights and best practices
• Oversee day-to-day operations of the Parent Services team, ensuring professional, timely, and solution-focused service delivery.

Key Responsibility 2: Ensure that the defined retention and re-enrolment procedures and processes are consistently implemented to maximise re-enrolments:

• Take ownership in leading initiatives to meet the agreed retention targets.
• Implement and enhance the retention procedures in school and ensure a consistent process is followed through to support the ISP reporting framework.
• To work with regional retention team to manage and lead the regional re-enrolment and retention campaign.
• Help school team to better understand ISP retention procedures and reporting through effective communication and collaboration to identify issues and find solutions.

• Implement a structured and personalised approach to retaining existing families based on gathering the appropriate information and early identification of at-risk families with a clearly thought-out action plan.
• Develop a solution-based philosophy where possible withdrawal risks can be “turned around” as families that want to stay.
• Administer agreed stakeholder surveys, customer loyalty programme and any other regionally agreed strategies to support retention strategies that are aligned with identified areas of improvement.
• Evaluate all retention data for further reporting and adjusting strategy as needed including the Customer Journey map post enrolment to create the best customer experience for all families.

Key Responsibility 3: Ensure re-enrolment systems and processes are in place to provide accurate and timely data reporting:

• Work with regional and school team to execute school re-enrolment processes linked to retention targets.
• Work closely with marketing and admissions teams to deliver retention targets.
• To work closely with Head of Marketing to ensure consistent and effective messaging that supports effective re-enrolment.
• Ensure parents have an easy and well communicated re-enrolment process.
• Understand the re-enrolment process and reporting format to ensure data consistency for the purpose of KPI reporting.
• Ensure data processing procedures are clearly defined between the group CRM and MIS to efficiently manage and identify leavers and strategies to increase retention.
• To develop, improve and execute school re-enrolment policy.
• Ensure that all withdrawal submissions are addressed in a personalised and timely manner to meet reporting frameworks.

Stakeholders:

• Internal: Regional Head of Retention & Re-enrolment, Regional Retention Team, Campus Principals; Head of Marketing; School Admissions leaders; and respective Heads of International and National Schools.
• External: Parents.

Line Management:

• Reporting to Postholder: None

ISP Leadership Competencies

You consistently demonstrate and role-model the ISP Leadership Competencies in all that you do.

Collaboration. Takes an active part in leading their school or region; is cooperative and a genuine team player, developing positive, supportive relationships with colleagues to solve problems and maximise opportunities.

Learning & Getting Better. Continually demonstrates personal commitment and passion for learning and getting better using evidence and feedback, supporting others in their continual learning, development, and growth.

Innovation Leadership. Is good at creating an environment where ideas for learning initiatives and services are generated and can motivate and inspire others through the process of creation through to completion.

Outcome driven. Can be counted on to find solutions. Is consistently looking to exceed goals and is focused on KPIs.

Resilience. Can deal with setbacks and challenges calmly and effectively.

Community Focus. Is committed to meeting and exceeding the needs and expectations of our students and their families.

Integrity & Ethical Management. Has the ability to work ethically and with integrity; helps others feel valued; upholds and models the ISP Vision, Purpose, and Principles.

Leading & Inspiring Others. Supports, encourages, and inspires students, colleagues, and teams so that they give their best.

Understanding People. Is a very good judge of talent, can objectively articulate the strengths and motivations of people inside or outside the organisation.

Influencing & Communication. Consistently informs, influences, and inspires students, parents, and colleagues through timely and effective communication.

Agile. Responds and adapts to changing circumstances; manages and solves problems by providing solutions in a climate of ambiguity.

Strategic, Commercial & Financial Awareness. Has the ability to apply understanding of the business and industry to improve effectiveness and profitability.

Planning & Decision Making. Makes decisions on the best course of action and then plans, organises, prioritises, and balances resources to achieve the desired outcome.

Diversity & Equity. Has the sensitivity, awareness, and skill to understand the values, behaviours, attitudes, and practices across cultures that supports all children and adults to learn and work effectively.

ISP Commitment to Safeguarding Principles

ISP is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people and expects all staff and volunteers to share this commitment. All post holders are subject to appropriate vetting procedures and satisfactory Criminal Background Checks or equivalent covering the previous 10 years’ employment history.

ISP Commitment to Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging

ISP is committed to strengthening our inclusive culture by identifying, hiring, developing, and retaining high-performing teammates regardless of gender, ethnicity, sexual orientation and gender expression, age, disability status, neurodivergence, socio-economic background or other demographic characteristics. Candidates who share our vision and principles and are interested in contributing to the success of ISP through this role are strongly encouraged to apply.